(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an improved leg press, and more particularly to an improved orthopedically engineered leg press which, in addition to being comfortable and safe to use, relieves the tension of the overall leg muscles and reduces the intense leg soreness after exercising.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
A conventional leg press is shown in FIG. 1. It mainly comprises a pair of curved arms 11 connected to a bottom side of a seat 10. A first pair of posts 13 and a second pair of posts 14 are respectively located at the rear and middle sections of a body 12. When a user exercises his leg muscles, resistance elements 15 are fit onto a third post 16 and the second pair of posts 14 at the middle section of the body 12, so that the two curved arms 11 may be moved to the front of the seat 10 while maintaining a suitable distance therebetween. The user may then sit on the seat 10, with the legs placed in the middle of the distance and straddling over two supporting arms 17 which are pushed outward when exercising. Conversely, when training the leg muscles by pushing the supporting arms inward, the resistance elements 15 are inserted onto the third posts 16 and the first posts 13 at the rear section of the body 12. The curved arms 11 may be arranged at both sides of the seat 10, due to the resistance of the resistance elements 15. After the user sits on the seat 10, his/her legs may be extended beyond the supporting arm 17 and straddle thereon, and the supporting arms 17 are pushed inwardly for exercising purposes.
Although the structure of this prior art is simple and easy to use, when the user trains his leg muscles by such scissors exercises in which the supporting arms 17 are pushed outwardly or inwardly, the legs must be straight and parallel to the ground, because the distance between the height of the seat 10 and the ground is small. FIG. 2 shows the sitting posture and position of the legs. If the user wishes to have his/her feet on the ground when doing exercise, his/her legs possibly may not rest against the supporting arms 17 when proceeding with the desired exercises. However, as is well known, when the user is in such a posture, his/her hip muscles, thigh muscles and shin muscles must be in a tense state for a long time so that the sitting posture may be maintained. Although supporting arms 17 are provided for helping to support the thighs, he/she still has to try to support the weight of the shins. The above-mentioned posture in exercising results in extremely unnatural movements of the shins, so that the user feels very exhausted within a very short time. In particular, the lower part of the body and the waist suffers intense soreness. In other words, it is not easy to keep the legs horizontal to the ground in exercising, especially when the user has to further push the supporting arms 17 inwardly or outwardly.
Furthermore, a T-shaped bar 18 is pivotally connected to the front section of the body 12. The T-shaped bar 18 is further connected to a horizontal post 19 extending from one side of the T-shaped bar 18, for matching a corresponding horizontal post 21 provided on an oblique block 20 at the front section of the body 12 for insertion of a resistance element 15. By means of the above, the user may sit on the seat 10 with his/her feet placed upon the top sides of the T-shaped bar 18 to do kicks. A most important drawback of the prior art resides in the direction of exercising. In brief, because the prior leg press mainly permits forward kicking exercising, if the user inadvertently slips his/her feet off the T-shaped bar 18 which is bent by force exerted thereon, the T-shaped bar 18 may quickly reset to its original position due to the strong resilient action of the resistance elements 15. Then the T-shaped bar 18 may hit the user's legs and cause serious injuries thereto.